Guest post by Tim Stretton, 14 August 2021.
For centuries the English common law rules concerning married women’s rights—known by the shorthand ‘coverture’—restricted a wife’s ability to control real estate, own movable property, enter into contracts or participate in litigation without the cooperation of her husband. Yet, ongoing research confirms that a significant minority of women in broken marriages defied these restrictions and fought lawsuits against their husbands in equity courts. Chancery alone heard thousands of suits pitting spouse against spouse between 1500 and 1800.[1]
We know precious little, however, about how the women involved in these legal actions found and secured London-based lawyers and what advice they received. At first sight, a Chancery action from 1698 involving Mary Hockmore appears to offer a tantalizing exception, as it includes a lengthy deposition from a solicitor recalling his discussions with Mary a few years earlier.
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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